Nirmal ‘Nims’ Purja MBE haș claimed two more incredible world records after the intrepid mountaineer became the first person to summit three peaks higher than 8,000m – Everest, Kanchenjunga, and Lhotse – in just under nine days and do the Everest to Lhotse traverse in 26 hours – both without supplementary oxygen.
The Nepal-born naturalised British climber is well known for summitting all 14 of the world’s 8,000m peaks in seven months and he also made history on January 16, 2021, when the former Gurkha and British Special Forces operative and his team became the first mountaineers to summit K2 in winter.
After receiving worldwide acclaim for those feats, Purja embarked on a new adventure in early May with his Elite Exped team as they tackled the Himalayan peaks of Everest, Lhotse and Kanchenjunga.
Purja and his team went from Base Camp to Camp 2 on May 5, and then on May 6 started the push – with a few hours break at Camp 3 – to the 8,586m Kanchenjunga peak which they summited at 10.50am on May 7.
They switched over to the Everest Base Camp on May 10 and departed at 3am on May 11 for Camp 2 where they acclimatised for two days before heading up to Camp 3 on May 13 ahead of the final push.
They left the South Col at 11pm on May 14 and, in a very quick time of just nine hours, they summitted the world’s most famous peak of 8,849m at 8am on May 15 to complete the second leg of the feat.
Lhotse was the final peak and on May 16, the team left the South Col around 3.30am and reached the 8,516m summit around 10am with Purja the first to summit three peaks higher than 8,000m – Everest, Lhotse and Kanchenjunga – without oxygen in an incredible time of just eight days, 23 hours and 10 minutes – a new world record.
The 38-year-old, who took full advantage of this season’s good Everest summit window, revealed: “As I was focused on guiding and helping our team achieve their new possible, it was all in a chilled manner. My mission has always been to inspire people and to show what human beings are capable of, that’s what gives me the energy and excitement – showing people that nothing is impossible. I’m trailblazing and I want to inspire everyone to know they can achieve their dreams too.”
He also did the Everest to Lhotse traverse without supplementary oxygen in 26 hours to claim another world record despite getting Khumbu cough before Kanchenjunga due to low humidity and high-altitude temperatures.
He added: “I was leading and guiding without oxygen – I was checking in and making sure everyone was ok, fed and rested and strong. And for me when I do a summit push it is from Base Camp to the summit and then from the summit back to Base Camp. It has to be authentic – no helicopter lifts back to Base Camp – unless the summit is void or there’s an emergency or rescue.”